Security News > 2022 > July > Google Bringing the Android App Permissions Section Back to the Play Store

Google on Thursday said it's backtracking on a recent change that removed the app permissions list from the Google Play Store for Android across both the mobile app and the web.

"We heard your feedback that you find the app permissions section in Google Play useful, and we've decided to reinstate it. The app permissions section will be back shortly."

To that end, in addition to showcasing the new Data safety section that offers users a simplified summary of an app's data collection, processing, and security practices, Google also intends to highlight all the permissions required by the app to make sense of its "Ability to access specific restricted data and actions."

The reinstatement comes as the internet giant moved to swap out the apps permission section with the newer Data safety labels last week ahead of the enforcement deadline on July 20, 2022, which requires developers to provide information about "How they collect and handle user data for the apps they publish on Google Play.".

In contrast, the apps permission list is derived from the permissions declared by the developer in an app's manifest file.

It's worth noting that the Apple App Store has a similar policy in place for its privacy "Nutrition" labels that allows developers to highlight "Self?reported summaries of some of their privacy practices," a method that, as a report from The Washington Post found, "Falls short of being helpful."

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/07/google-bringing-android-app-permissions.html